esther come forward? there's an important step in this please come up here. her case was not -- let me explain this. folks never understood the significance of this. they say this is the woman who desegregated the university of maryland school of nursing and that sounds great, but folks don't understand the significance. after the merit case the governments and courts construed it as being a law school case. they said, well, law schools are different. you can -- maybe you have to allow people to go to law school in their state because the laws are unique. and so it took years before the next success occurred beyond a law school. that is/was esther's case.

what happens was in the interim eight or ten southern states entered into what they call the southern compact. it was an agreement that each state would allow blacks to come to their colored professional school that they happened to have. if north carolina had a veterinarian school all of the other states denied blacks to go in to the white veterinarian school but was satisfy separate but equal by sending them to north carolina. or the medical schools, the nursing school was meharry. it's esther's case the whole southern compact was knocked out, not just for the school of nursing. i mean she is the first desegregation by court order beyond a law school because they had construed the mary case and

there's a supreme court decision out of missouri just dealing with law school. we want to talk about who's case began opening up education broadly beyond law school, this is the person right here. please do. >> i didn't expect to say anything. this happened in such an unusual manner. i wanted to be a nurse. i spoke this morning at -- for the postal service. they had a program there. i was telling them the story. also st. john's church on sunday, i told the story because i love for young people to hear

and to be inspired. but from a little girl, 8 years old, i knew i wanted to be a nurse and prove dent hospital was the only school that i could go to in baltimore, because everything else was segregated. all hospitals were segregated. there was nothing wrong with prove dent when i graduated from high school, one of my classmates was admitted there. but i said to another classmate, it's a shame we can't go to any school we want to go to. merely because of our race. and i said to her, let's write to the white school. she said, what? i said, let's write to the white schools. i don't know where it came from. she said, you know what they're going to say. i said, yes -- you know what they're going to say but let's write anyway. and she said where we we get the names of the schools? i said look in the phone directly. all of this is come, you know.

i said you take the first half, i'll take the second. we started writing and getting replies back, we don't accept negros, we don't accept negros at this time. the university of maryland, we stated that we were high school negro graduates, you know? negro high school graduates wanting to continue our education to study nursing. and the university sent me the catalog that we requested and the application, and when i took my form to the medical doctor, rena brown he said did you contact the naacp? i said why? you know you're not going to get in there without their help. i said they sent me the application. he said it doesn't mean anything. i don't know today, but i believe he contacted them because i heard from donald murray asking me to come in and speak with them. then they wanted me to talk to charles houston.

and when i met him he said, who put you up to it? and i said who put me up to what? and he said, who put you up to all of this? i said nobody. i told him how it all happened and he said okay, you're very brave. since you started it, we'll let you continue, if you get into any trouble, call on us. and of course when the time came for my admission date and i hadn't heard from them and i wrote to them, always the committee on admissions is reviewing your credentials and that was their mantra. when it passed the date, then i called them and then that's when charles houston. and donald murray went into the law court to argue and we lost there, charles houston had a heart attack by the time the appeal came up, that's how thurgood marshall got in. he was called down from new york to argue the appeal with donald murray. and in april 1950 the decision was handed down that the

university had to admit me and that was another song and dance that i won't go into. it was such an experience. i remember that first day, they pretened they had no rooms there and i had to commute. but that first day when i got home i remember, it was so stressful because that day, a nurse had come up to me and said, if you don't pray to god you won't get out of here because nobody here's for you. i said if god intends for me to get out of here nobody can stop me. but anyway, one sun newspaper reporter wrote one time when i told him that, he ended his column by saying, "god intended." anyway, i did graduate, man n. trials and tribulations there, but i did graduate. and still go back to encourage

the young people coming in now and i tell them that you can do anything, tell them what my mother told me, you can do anything you want to do, be anything you want to be as long as you work hard, stay focused and don't let anybody tell you you can't do it. thank you. [ applause ] >> and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end. i'm not going any further because in all honesty, realize what just happened. you just saw and heard history of maryland's civil rights. we got a camera, tape rolling,

that will forever reside in the collection that story has been captured. thank you so much. i'm going to turn it over to trisha. >> thank you. i want to thank -- do we have a microphone. thank you. i want to thank all of you for being here this evening. weep had a wonderful time. i wish we could stay and talk until 10:00 or so. i think there's a lot of energy and a lot more questions in the room. and for those of you who expressed interest in what's going to happen to your collections in this history because this generation is really right at our fingertips and will slip away and we do have an obligation, as historians and institutions to step up and figure out how we can help, so what i'm going to do is, we will have information on our website by monday -- jenny will be off tomorrow -- but we will have it there. you can pick up my card at the

desk on your way out and e-mail me. it is -- is rob still here? rob? all right. rob was here earlier. he is with the maryland state archives and the baltimore city archives. i know he's interested in well as helping. you can talk to damon talbot in the back of the room. where is evan? i've lost him. ir iris? all right. we're happy to help. let us know how to help you. for those leaders of your organizations we're happy to meet with you and assist you in every which way we can. we thank you for coming. we're vested in this. we're excited about it. we're honored and we thank all of you so much for coming in. absolutely. you're welcome to go upstairs, if you haven't seen the henderson photo exhibit. you're welcome to go upstairs and take a look at it. again, thank you so much for coming.

>> you've watching american history tv. all weekend every weekend on c-span3. for more information follow us on twitter @cspanhistory. >> i believe it is yet possible we will come to admire this country not simply because we were born here, but because of the kind of great and good land that you and i want it to be and that together we have made it. that is my hope. that is my reason for seeking the presidency of the united states. >> as candidates campaign for president this year, we look back at 14 member who ran for the office and lost. go to c-span.org/thecontenders to see individual yoef tvideo o.

>> the leadership of this nation has a clear and immediate challenge to go to work effectively and go to work immediately to restore proper respect for law and order in this land and not just prior to election day either. >> cspan.org/thecontenders. >> next, william fowler on his book "american crisis, george washington and the daj dangerous two years after yorktown 1781-1783" washington's struggles as he dealt with ineffective congress and continental army on the verge of mutiny. the 50-minute event hosted by the social law library in boston. >> thank you, bob. very kind and flattering remarks. a few moments ago bob asked what i would like him to say about me when he introduced me and i told him he ought not to hesitate to

exaggerate. thank you at same time i must caution you sometimes we're raised up to be let low. this is the season of course and student teacher evaluations and i was just reading mine this morning. it was pretty good. good, good, good. and then i came to one, a student decided to make a comment. the student described the comment. he said if i only had two hour left on earth, i'd want to spend them in professor fowler's class. and then i turned the page. and he continued. he said because professor fowler's class goes on for eternity. so one must always be cautious. on the morning of january 6th, 1783, the doors of the

continental congress in philadelphia opened to admit three senior officers of the continental army. then encamped at newburg, new york. the officers were general alexander mcdougal from new york, colonel mathias ogden from new jersey and colonel john brooks from massachusetts. these three officers arrived in the congress to announce to the members that the army at newburg, american army, was on the verge of mutiny. how could this have happened? after almost eight years of war, with victories so close in sight, all was now in peril of being lost. we often think of course the american revolution ended october 1781, yorktown. with the surrender of general wallace to the franco american force under the command of washington. that was not the case. for even with surrender of yorktown, the british army still

occupied new york, savannah, georgia, charleston, south carolina, wilmington, north carolina, and a good portion of maine. and the navy, while it had been defeated at the battle of the capes during the yorktown campaign, navy was still supreme. the navy was still mistress of the ocean. the british had hardly been beaten. no one understood this better than the commander in chief himself, general washington. he was fearful that the news and victory at yorktown would in fact diminish the american effort. shortly after the battle, he wrote to governor william nel n nelson, the governor of virginia, he told governor nelson, quote, instead of exciting our exertions the victory at yorktown will produce such a relaxation the prosecution of the war as will prolong the calamities of it.

he then wrote a few days later, to general nathaniel green, american commander in the south, he told general green, my greatest fear is that congress may think our work closed and will fall into a state of langer and relaxation. following those letters, washington made a brief visit home to mt. vernon, only by the way, the second time in eight years that he had been home. after a brief visit he and martha left mt. vernon and journeyed to philadelphia, where they planned to spend the winter of 1781-'82. in the meantime, the american army having taken care of lord wallace's army ban their march to their winter quarters which they would take up on the hundrhudson valley to watch the british

army. washington arrived in philadelphia to parades, fireworks, endless banquets and toasts. they even wrote an opera in his honor. he went fox hunting and indeed was having a wonderful social time in philadelphia. but not political. he did not attend the sessions of congress. that would have been improper. for the commander in chief to attend congress. but every monday night he, robert morris, the financier, as he was called, equivalent of our secretary of the treasury, governor morris, no relation to robert but an important figure in the congress, alexander hamilton, james madison, and perhaps a few others, met for dinner. it was at these differents that these men discussed what happened in the congress that day, usually very little. they discussed the fabct that te

nation was bankrupt, congress was paralyzed, and the army had not been paid. what to do? what to do? these men formed the core of the kind of shifting political alliance in the congress of men who were nationalists. these were men who saw america as a great nation but only if it had a more powerful, central government. that of course was not the general sentiment in the congress itself. the congress was very much mindful of states' rights, parochial and particular. as the months war on through the winter, washington and martha enjoyed themselves but virtually nothing got accomplished. nothing politically. in the meantime, the army was there in the hudson valley unpaid, waiting. everyone knew sort of that the war was coming to an end. it wasn't certain but there were rumors, though hard information

was not forth coming from paris, when negotiations were under way, there were rumor that things were finally going to end. but no sure sign of it yet. washington finally in march 1782 presented himself to the congress and asked permission to leave help was to rejoin his army. they summoned him to meet before them and they told him, quote, we have nothing particular to give you and have appointed this audience only to assure you of our esteem and confidence, and to wish you happiness and success. happiness and success was all that he carried north, back to the army. there, at the encampment, just north of the city, the american army was busy watching the british. the british in new york were under the command of general carlton, and general carlton had

recent lay arrived. he was his majesty's commander in chief, instructs to take no offensive action against the americans. indeed, prepare for evacuation. at the same time, while washington was watching now carlton, there arrived the french. the french army under the general spent the winter in virginia, near the yorktown batt battlefie battlefield. come spring it was time to move though the french army was coming north to come here to boston to depart for the west indies. the french were leaving america. there was a grand ceremony at the american encampment, troops passed in review, they reviewed each other's airports and bade farewell. the americans were very much on their own.

as was in the mifdst of this general washington received an extraordinary love from colonel nicola, the commander of the regiment of invalids. these were men who through injury and combat or disease or some other infirmity were unable to serve in the line but were perfectly able to do god duty, garrison duty, support duty. colonel nicola, commander of the regiment, saw firsthand every single day the cost of war in the faces and disabilities of his men. his men had not been paid either. he wrote to general washington, when this war is over, we who have borne the heat and labor of the day will be forgot and neglected. the army will not submit to this grave injustice. from several conversations i

have had with officers, i believe it is generally intended not to separate after the peace till all grievances are redressed, engagements and promises fulfilled. this war must have shown to all but to military men in particular, the weakness of republics. washington was stunned at the letter. ordinarily when the commander in chief received a communication from one of his subordinates he would certainly reply but the rely would come within a few days or perhaps a week, perhaps longer. washington replied to nico l.a.'s letter the very same day. he wrote to the colonel, i have read your letter with a mixture of surprise and astonishment. no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such

ideas existing in the army. he then said, we will solve our difficulties in a constitutional way. well, of course, colonel nicola quickly ran for cover and there were sell more letters to the general apologizing for his statement but was nonetheless the letter did in fact reflect the feelings of so many officers serving in the army. about two weeks later, after colonel nicola's letter general washington received another communication, this one a major general, james mitchell barnum. the general was from rhode island, he had been a major general in the continental army, then retired, and served in the congress. he was a man of great influence in prominence. general varnum wrote to his commander in chief. the congress is a baseless

fabric. my fellow citizens are totally destitute of that love of equality that is absolutely wrerequisite to support a repub. only an absolute monarchy or a military state alone can save us from the horrors of subjugation. washington, interestingly enough, did not respond to general varnum. but all of this weighed heavily on his mind. and so he wrote to the secretary at war, benjamin lincoln, a massachusetts man. he told secretary at war lincoln, if these men who have spent the flower of their days in establishing the freedom and independence of their country are sent home without one f

farthing of money, the long sufferings of this army are almost exhausted. he then went on to tell secretary at war lincoln that he was particularly concerned because the army was about to go into winter quarters, once again, 1782, 1783, and he knew that the despair of winter quarters. they had come througher toer to use times, in each of the winter encampments they had a prom is of a military campaign in the spring to secure american independence. there would be no campaign in the coming spring. how to keep these men together, how to prevent mutiny. in the midst of this the officers of the army gathered. the regimental leaders, the staff of the army gathered. and without washington's permission, they did not seek it it, they presented a memorial to

him. they asked his permission to take this memorial to the congress in philadelphia. washington was very uneasy about this. it was a violation of the military protocol, it could be seen, of course, as a challenge to civilian authority. authority that he had always respected. but none the let's, the situation was so grave that he feared if he refused permission for his officers to take this memorial to philadelphia, he would resent the consequences that would arise. the memorial began in asking the congress, quote, as the head and sovereign to hear our plea, we have borne all that men can bear in further experiments on our patients may have fatal effects. this memorial was the one entrusted to colonels ogden,

brookes and general mcdougal to deliver to the congress. the congress received the memorial, gave it to a committee, of course, and the committee deliberated for weeks and weeks. in the meantime, those gentleman i mentioned earlier, hamilton, madison, morris, and morris and lincoln, began to plan. they saw an opportunity here with the disgruntled army to use the army as a lever, as a threat against the states and the congress to force the stated to give greater power to congress, to demand from congress their pay and the only way to get paid by the congress was if the states sent money and increased pouter of the central government. and they began then to play this very dangerous game of using the

army. what these men feared most was peace. peace. because they knew that if peace came, the army would dis solve. they had not heard anything from our commissioners in paris, from mr. adams, mr. jay, mr. franklin, and later mr. lawrence, they didn't communicate with philadelphia. but the rumors were about, these men in congress knew they had to act quickly, before peace came. governor morris wrote to his friend, quote, not much for the interest of america that peace should be made at present. think about that. not much in our interests that peace should be made. it is in our interest that the war be prolonged. meanwhile, up at the camp in

newburg, the officers muttering and murmerring, there arrive a new general. hess name horacio gates. gates was not a man much troubled by principle or loyalty. earlier in the war he had distinguished himself as the commander of the american army at the battle of saratoga, the great victor of saratoga, where he defeated the general. what we sometimes for get about that year, 1777, called by the british the year of the hangman for the three 7s being gallows we forget in that same year that we were celebrating saratoga, the accomplishments of general gates, general washington retreated from brandy wine, germantown, and lost philadelphia. washington's reputation was sinking fast. and there were those in the congress, some of them among samuel adams who thought gates might make a better commander

than general washington. in rumor, maybe not a plot, that's a little much, but certainly plans being made to replace gates, take him into washington's position and washington knew this, of course. later, general gates was given command of the army in the south, and there in the south general gates fought the battle of camden, one of the worst defeats the american army ever suffered. what made it even worse when the smoke cleared from the battle feel at camden, general gates was not there. he had retreated about 50 miles to reorganize. he was replaced. general green took general gates' place in the south. gates was in disgrace. washington disliked him intensely. but gates was a powerful politician and he managed to get reinstated as the commander of the army at newburg, without washington's consent. the congress simply appointed him, and sent him to newburg telling general washington you may